jayvarley you are a grown man i presume...
i believe you can speak up for yourself which you HAVE ALREADY DONE.

kmt.
is beef yuh wan fi see, yuh gwan

*Kails*:


lol mi cya tek di slimy sittin an di whole heap a seeds

Weh yu ah tell me seh?


Okra gi yuh nuff juice gal!

I don't suppose you like susumba either?

Jayvarley:


Not a case of riding the fence just don't like people calling up my name when I am not having A discussion with them!

This Kwame fool has been Copying and pasting useless posts for the last two days even though nobody is responding to him!

There is one word for it PATHETIC!!

Exactly. The funny thing is that he derives extreme pleasure in what he's doing. He has been doing it in other threads. The last thread he kept posting and posting and posting even with nobody responding to him for the last 10 pages for up to a month! His last post was just few days ago and when he saw everybody ignored him, he jumped right into this thread.

*Kails*:


they were from the KONGO kingdom

which included territory found in present day ANGOLA AND DRC..smh

from KONGOKING.ORG

The Kingdom of Kongo (Kongo: Kongo dya Ntotila[4] or Wene wa Kongo[5] or Portuguese: Reino do Congo) was an African kingdom located in west central Africa in what is now northern Angola, Cabinda, the Republic of the Congo, and the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[6]

The dominant political force of the Congo region prior to and during the initial arrival of Europeans was the Kongo Empire. The Kongo was a highly developed state located primarily in the southwest portion of the modern Congo, and also occupying portions of northern Angola and Cabinda. At its greatest extent, the empire reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Point Noire in the north to the Loje River in the south.

No Congolese at all

Jayvarley:


Weh yu ah tell me seh?


Okra gi yuh nuff juice gal!

I don't suppose you like susumba either?

i have never tried it.
i just know some haitians think Jamaicans are crazy for eating it.

anyway im through talking about my ppl on this joke of a thread,
so i will see you around

*Kails*:
anyway im through talking about my ppl on this[b] joke of a thread[/b],
so i will see you around

[img]http://communities.sportsnet.ca/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/2-849877-6132/Pot_Meet_Kettle.jpg[/img]

@Crayola

Radoillo: Gwendolyn Hall has been quoted in this thread to show Igbos were unwanted and useless.

The same Hall wrote: "...during the Spanish period in Louisiana the mean price of Igbo men was highest among the five most frequent ethnicities."

"The Igbo became one of the five African ethnicities found most frequently in Louisiana documents after 1803. Between 1804 and 1820, Igbo began to appear in higher proportions among all Africans and became one of the five most frequent ethnicities encountered in the documents. They were more heavily MALE than during the eighteenth century."

"Igbos were among the ethnicities ACTIVELY smuggled into Louisiana long after the foreign slave trade was outlawed. They were smuggled into Cuba in LARGE numbers as well."

"Igbo women were among the two African ethnicities whose women had the highest proportion of surviving children....The other ethnicity with high reproductive results were the Wolof....Mandinga women demonstrated relatively low reproductive results...Congo women's reproductive rate was substantially lower, possibly because of a high abortion rate among them..."

Now the interesting part:

"African-Americans are likely to be descended directly from African women via the female line because they have many more white male than white female ancestors. In the United States, our African mothers were reasonably likely to be IGBO or Wolof: a thesis which can eventually be tested through DNA studies".

This is not from Douglas Chambers who y'all believe to be pro-Igbo. The quotes are from Dr Gwendolyn Hall. Kwame has been quoting her researches, but CONVENIENTLY ignored these sections.

Its Okay. Me, I'm just passing by.

@Bold...that is so true. Could it be genetics? Igbo women rarely have high mortality rates of their infants. With the sale of approximately 1,300,000 million Igbos in the slave trade between 1400-1800, one would expect the Igbo land to have experienced a considerable decline in population. Yet the reverse is the case. A population census of southern Nigerian population made in early 20th century(1900) by the British put the Igbo population figure at close to 4 million, the highest population figure for any Southern Nigerian tribe at that time. The Yoruba came second with 2.5 million people, Edo third with 472,000 and Ijaw fourth. This very thread was created here on nairaland containing its verifiable source and it made the front page in late july/early august. I'll get the link and post here.

Then include the 1966 pogrom where over 300,000 easterners(Igbo, Ibibio etc) were killed in the North. An action which led the Igbo and other easterners to return to the east and declare Biafra, and the ensuing Biafran war followed. A war of during which over 3 million easterners died due to deaths by killings and death by starvation.

Despite all these adverse effects, the Igbo land has remained thickly populated. Igbo land remains the most densely populated zone in Nigeria, with Anambra coming first, and then Imo state. Lagos being multi-ethnic containing a heterogeneous mix of the 250 Nigerian tribes is a densely populated state but was not counted as number 1 since the population doesn't contain a homogeneous people.
Going through Igboland, you are met with a bustling population of people. Markets are teeming with population with people shouting 'uzo!'(way!) so that they can pass. You hardly get into a bank and meet the hall scanty. So many schools popping up here and there to accommodate the increasing and thriving population. Throughout Igbo land, over 95% of the people you meet are Igbo. Then you leave Igboland and go to other zones, the Igbo people are said to come second in numbers after the natives in each state.

You then talk about the Igbo people in the diaspora(US, Canada, UK, China, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Australia, South Africa, Holland etc) who are said to be quite numerous, and said to run in a few million.

Despite all these, population census which has continued to be manipulated all these years has constantly placed the Igbo at third place. The Nigerian Census Commission under the regimes of past presidents have CONVENIENTLY omitted 'State of Origin' on the census form constantly and rather replaced it with 'State of Sesidence' knowing full well that substantial amounts of Igbo people don't live in Igboland but rather in other states of the nations where they swell up the population figures of those states thus making it seem like these other states are more populated. Lagos state alone, with a population of about 20 million, is said to contain over 8 million Igbos, containing more Igbo people in Nigeria than each of the 5 Igbo states, plus Delta Igbo and Rivers Igbo. President Obasanjo knew what he was doing and what he was avoiding and when he was asked why he refused to include 'state of origin', he replied that it would cause controversy. What controversy? Controversial to who? Clearly he was hiding the truth and he clearly knew what he was doing.

Another national census is scheduled to take place in 2015 and this time President Jonathan has ordered that 'State of Origin' will be included on census forms. The National Population Census is on top gear in preparation for the new census count come 2015. This time the truth shall prevail. The outcome of the census result will not be taken lightly by some people. President Ebele Jonathan is the best thing that has ever happened to Nigeria and Igbo land, being a very fair president.

Meanwhile Angola which was another major slave port experienced a heavy decline in population, which the author of an article speculates that a substantial amount of the slaves sold at Angola may not have come from Angola after all but rather from neighbouring slave ports.

These TWO GUESTS steadily viewing this thread who claim they are not glued to the thread yet they log off and stick to the thread viewing it from morning till night!!!

Yet they accuse @otherguy for viewing the thread while they rush and hide to do the very same thing!

Freaks#

Bunch of lil girls#

Little coincidence but umm...who else could these TWO STEADY GUESTS be if not Fula and Retardeen?

Aha! And that reminds me, Mrs Retardeen ain't posted in a while. I guess she's suddenly gone totally blanks on points as usual.

@Radoillo, Crayola, Jayvarley

I've found the thread, the link and some images. Below are images of the 1921 census of southern Nigeria held by the British. The Igbo figure was 3,927,000 while the Yoruba figure was 2,111,000 actually, not 2,5000,000 as I wrote earlier. Edo came third with 472,000 and Ijaw fourth with 174,000.

https://www.nairaland.com/1366979/igbo-second-most-populous-ethnic

http://books.google.com/books?id=GUc8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA5&lpg=PA6&dq=ika+igbo+bini&output=html_text

The populations of the different subgroups interest me. Agbaja vastly outnumbered Ngwa?! . Wow! What happened? Ngwa population is far larger than Agbaja's today.

Radoillo: The populations of the different subgroups interest me. Agbaja vastly outnumbered Ngwa?! . Wow! What happened? Ngwa population is far larger than Agbaja's today.

Where is Agbaja located in? I know of Ngwa.

bigfrancis21:

Where is Agbaja located in? I know of Ngwa.

Agbaja is in Enugu State. The entire area around the town of Udi belongs to the Agbaja clan/tribe. Well, I know they were quite populous in the past; Aro slave traders got a good number of their slaves from that area. Due to their large population, many of them who couldn't find work on their overpopulated, infertile land used to come to my hometown (Awka) to work as labourers. At least that's what my grandma said.

There's also a town in Imo state called Agbaja. But that's just a single town, not a clan. And it certainly never had a population of 640,000! LOL

Hi,

Just wanted to comment that this thread is really interesting and informative. I am going to follow up with the docs some of you posted. As an AA, I can attest, at least in my family, that some Yorubas did end up in the state of Virginia, and that they were assigned to domestic work at the plantation manors. My father's ancestry is the Ovimbundu of Angola. His ancestors were confined as farm laborers in the state of North Carolina.

Although mt DNA is said to be a match to Nigerian Yoruba, many of my Grandmother's and my Great-grandmother's siblings resembled Igbos. Since there was probably a lot of mixing with other African ethic groups, who knows. The males on that side of the family are gone, so we may never know.

My parting comment is, the main reason why many AA don't know their ancestry, isn't because we wanted to forget, it was snatched away from defenseless children. Many slave children were orphaned when either they or their parents were sold separately. One advantage of breaking up families this way, was to permanently erase all traces of ethnic identity. Those who were resourceful learned to survive by redefining themselves apart from what the slave handlers tried to impose upon them. Although a slightly different dynamic, the same principle applies today.

Not all of us are lost, many of us are doing well for ourselves, through much perseverance and faith.

Lea28: Hi,

Just wanted to comment that this thread is really interesting and informative. I am going to follow up with the docs some of you posted. As an AA, I can attest, at least in my family, that some Yorubas did end up in the state of Virginia, and that they were assigned to domestic work at the plantation manors. My father's ancestry is the Ovimbundu of Angola. His ancestors were confined as farm laborers in the state of North Carolina.

Although mt DNA is said to be a match to Nigerian Yoruba, many of my Grandmother's and my Great-grandmother's siblings resembled Igbos. Since there was probably a lot of mixing with other African ethic groups, who knows. The males on that side of the family are gone, so we may never know.

My parting comment is, the main reason why many AA don't know their ancestry, isn't because we wanted to forget, it was snatched away from defenseless children. Many slave children were orphaned when either they or their parents were sold separately. One advantage of breaking up families this way, was to permanently erase all traces of ethnic identity. Those who were resourceful learned to survive by redefining themselves apart from what the slave handlers tried to impose upon them. Although a slightly different dynamic, the same principle applies today.

Not all of us are lost, many of us are doing well for ourselves, through much perseverance and faith.

Good post

Lea28: Hi,

Just wanted to comment that this thread is really interesting and informative. I am going to follow up with the docs some of you posted. As an AA, I can attest, at least in my family, that some Yorubas did end up in the state of Virginia, and that they were assigned to domestic work at the plantation manors. My father's ancestry is the Ovimbundu of Angola. His ancestors were confined as farm laborers in the state of North Carolina.

Although mt DNA is said to be a match to Nigerian Yoruba, many of my Grandmother's and my Great-grandmother's siblings resembled Igbos. Since there was probably a lot of mixing with other African ethic groups, who knows. The males on that side of the family are gone, so we may never know.

My parting comment is, the main reason why many AA don't know their ancestry, isn't because we wanted to forget, it was snatched away from defenseless children. Many slave children were orphaned when either they or their parents were sold separately. One advantage of breaking up families this way, was to permanently erase all traces of ethnic identity. Those who were resourceful learned to survive by redefining themselves apart from what the slave handlers tried to impose upon them. Although a slightly different dynamic, the same principle applies today.

Not all of us are lost, many of us are doing well for ourselves, through much perseverance and faith.

Thanks for reclaiming your ancestral origins. Its really good to have a sense of belonging.

@Bold...I totally concur with that. The identity of Africans in America was forcefully taken away. And the first way that was made to happen was the imposition of foreign names on Africans. One's name is strong evidence of one's origins and once that's taken away, a great part of that person's identity has been erased. If AAs had been allowed to keep their native surnames, you'd probably have had AA families bearing surnames such as Okoro, Chima, Chigozie, Kabongo, Lukema, Afeanyetornye, Domevlo, Sagbata, Ayodele, Olamide, etc.

I have one question to ask. What state in the US is your mother from? Virginia? I'm asking because according to the data below, no slaves from Bight of Benin(Yoruba, Fon, Ewe) were sent to the Chesapeake region(Maryland, Virginia). However, they were sent to Louisiana and South Carolina.

How's that possible?

yam[138] Wolof nyam, taste; Serer nyam, eat; Fula nyama, eat; black West African and Caribbean English nyam, to eat. Also Bantu nyambi, to eat.

^

I don't think this is correct coz I see no reason how the word "taste" or "eat" would eventually translate to the crop Yam

Yam is called Iyan (pronounced E-yan) in Edo and the earliest use of the word by Europeans were the Portuguese who called it Inhame and the English corrupted the Portuguese word to Yam.

Iyan (crop) -> Inhame (crop) -> Yam (crop) is more plausible than Nyam (taste; eat; to eat) -> Inhame (crop) -> Yam (crop)

bigfrancis21:

Thanks for reclaiming your ancestral origins. Its really good to have a sense of belonging.

@Bold...I totally concur with that. The identity of Africans in America was forcefully taken away. And the first way that was made to happen was the imposition of foreign names on Africans. One's name is strong evidence of one's origins and once that's taken away, a great part of that person's identity has been erased. If AAs had been allowed to keep their native surnames, you'd probably have had AA families bearing surnames such as Okoro, Chima, Chigozie, Kabongo, Lukema, Afeanyetornye, Domevlo, Sagbata, Ayodele, Olamide, etc.

I have one question to ask. What state in the US is your mother from? Virginia? I'm asking because according to the data below, no slaves from Bight of Benin(Yoruba, Fon, Ewe) were sent to the Chesapeake region(Maryland, Virginia). However, they were sent to Louisiana and South Carolina.

How's that possible?

Some African Americans and Caribbean people change their names back to African names. Do you think African Americans and Caribbean's should still bear their slave names today?

eziza: yam[138] Wolof nyam, taste; Serer nyam, eat; Fula nyama, eat; black West African and Caribbean English nyam, to eat. Also Bantu nyambi, to eat.

^

I don't think this is correct coz I see no reason how the word "taste" or "eat" would eventually translate to the crop Yam

Yam is called Iyan (pronounced E-yan) in Edo and the earliest use of the word by Europeans were the Portuguese who called it Inhame and the English corrupted the Portuguese word to Yam.

Iyan (crop) -> Inhame (crop) -> Yam (crop) is more plausible than Nyam (taste; eat; to eat) -> Inhame (crop) -> Yam (crop)

The etymologies of some of these Africa-derived words are not settled. Sometimes there are more than one theory for a given word.

For example:

Okra is said to be from Igbo, okwuru. I have read some writers say its from Akan nkruma.

Obeah is said to be from Igbo, obia. Some say its from Akan, obayifo. Ibibio word, abia is also a possibilty.

Eddo (cocoyam) is said to be from Akan, edwo. Some say its from Igbo, ede.

Soso (Jamaican patois for only) could be Igbo, it could also be Yoruba. It occurs in both languages.

Mojo (a form of charm/amulet) is always assumed to be from Fula word moco'o meaning witch-doctor. Oddly no one has thought it could be Igbo mmo ojoo, meaning evil spirit. The charms were originally meant to ward off evil spirits.

You see, etymology is not always exact; lots of probabilities.

Jayvarley:


Some African Americans and Caribbean people change their names back to African names. Do you think African Americans and Caribbean's should still bear their slave names today?

Its a matter of choice left to them to make though I think that reverting back to their native names would be a way of completely breaking free from the shackles of the slave trade and its attendant memories.

Radoillo:

The etymologies of some of these Africa-derived words are not settled. Sometimes there are more than one theory for a given word.

For example:

Okra is said to be from Igbo, okwuru. I have read some writers say its from Akan nkruma.

Obeah is said to be from Igbo, obia. Some say its from Akan, obayifo. Ibibio word, abia is also a possibilty.

Eddo (cocoyam) is said to be from Akan, edwo. Some say its from Igbo, ede.

Soso (Jamaican patois for only) could be Igbo, it could also be Yoruba. It occurs in both languages.

Mojo (a form of charm/amulet) is always assumed to be from Fula word moco'o meaning witch-doctor. Oddly no one has thought it could be Igbo mmo ojoo, meaning evil spirit. The charms were originally meant to ward off evil spirits.

You see, etymology is not always exact; lots of probabilities.

As for Okra, that one has been confirmed. Its even in dictionaries too. Look up 'okra' in any modern dictionary or on online dictionaries, its written there.

Obeah also seems to have been confirmed to have Igbo origins.

Sooso is used only in Igbo. To confirm this, I asked a Yoruba friend of mine what 'only' is in Yoruba and he said 'sho sho'. .

Let me confirm again from another friend. Maybe there are dialects. Just as 'sooso' is called 'naani' in some other Igbo dialects.

bigfrancis21:


[b]Obeah also seems to have been confirmed to have Igbo origins.

In the case of Jamaican "Obeah", I would definitely say it is traced back to the Akan slaves.

Some of the greatest Obeah men in Jamaica trace their origin back to the Akan people of Ghana

One of them goes by the name of Joseph of Manchester Jamaica who himself a accepts his Ghanaian Ancestry


Akan "Bayi" and Jamaican "Obeah"
July 2011


"Bayi" is the word for "witchraft" in the Akan language. "Obayifo"/"Abayifo" used in the current Akan language means "person who practices witchcraft". I say this because both words have roots that are associated with witchcraft, one among the Akan in west Africa and the other among Jamaicans in the Caribbean, some of whom are descendants of Akans sent there.

"Obeah" also can be seen as meaning "woman" or a short for "witch woman", and in fact some Akan groups such as the Akuapem and perhaps even the Akwamu do not say "obaa" but rather "obeah" when they refer to "woman".

So the long and short of this is that "obeah" derives from Akans who were sent from west Africa to Jamaica. The structure of Obeah is the same as that of witchcraft practiced in Ghana today.



ARE THE WORDS "BAYI" AND "OBEAH" RELATED?

Question: Could it be that "Obeah" and "Bayi" are actually linked? This seems to be the case. How many people actually know that "Obeah" and "Obeahfo" are the same thing? They both refer to "woman" (see dictionary definitions below).

Christaller's Dictionary (1933: pg. 2):
o-baa, pi. m-, Ak. F. woman, female == obea, o(baa)basia; cf. abaawa. pr.
o-babaa, pi. m-, Ak. F. [oba, child, obaa, woman] daughter = obabea.
ababaa, ababawa, Aky. abayewa, pi. m-, maiden, young woman, married or not, who has not yet given birth to a child; syn. abeafo.


Christaller's Dictionary (1933: pg. 12)
abeafo, pi. m-, a lovely young woman, neatly, nicely dressed.


Source http://www.theakan.com/Akan_bayi__Jamaican_obeah.html

^^^

The Akan did have its own influence on Jamaica. Igbo and Akan are said to be the groups with the most influence in Jamaica.

bigfrancis21: ^^^

The Akan did have its own influence on Jamaica. Igbo and Akan are said to be the groups with the most influence in Jamaica.

I agree with you totally on that!

I believe I am composed of a mixture mainly of these two groups!

My keen small features from Igbo Influence and my dark skin from Akan influence!

Will have to do a DNA Test someday!

Jayvarley:


In the case of Jamaican "Obeah", I would definitely say it is traced back to the Akan slaves.

Some of the greatest Obeah men in Jamaica trace their origin back to the Akan people of Ghana

One of them goes by the name of Joseph of Manchester Jamaica who himself a accepts his Ghanaian Ancestry


Akan "Bayi" and Jamaican "Obeah"
July 2011


"Bayi" is the word for "witchraft" in the Akan language. "Obayifo"/"Abayifo" used in the current Akan language means "person who practices witchcraft". I say this because both words have roots that are associated with witchcraft, one among the Akan in west Africa and the other among Jamaicans in the Caribbean, some of whom are descendants of Akans sent there.

"Obeah" also can be seen as meaning "woman" or a short for "witch woman", and in fact some Akan groups such as the Akuapem and perhaps even the Akwamu do not say "obaa" but rather "obeah" when they refer to "woman".

So the long and short of this is that "obeah" derives from Akans who were sent from west Africa to Jamaica. The structure of Obeah is the same as that of witchcraft practiced in Ghana today.



ARE THE WORDS "BAYI" AND "OBEAH" RELATED?

Question: Could it be that "Obeah" and "Bayi" are actually linked? This seems to be the case. How many people actually know that "Obeah" and "Obeahfo" are the same thing? They both refer to "woman" (see dictionary definitions below).

Christaller's Dictionary (1933: pg. 2):
o-baa, pi. m-, Ak. F. woman, female == obea, o(baa)basia; cf. abaawa. pr.
o-babaa, pi. m-, Ak. F. [oba, child, obaa, woman] daughter = obabea.
ababaa, ababawa, Aky. abayewa, pi. m-, maiden, young woman, married or not, who has not yet given birth to a child; syn. abeafo.


Christaller's Dictionary (1933: pg. 12)
abeafo, pi. m-, a lovely young woman, neatly, nicely dressed.


Source http://www.theakan.com/Akan_bayi__Jamaican_obeah.html

I think ideas and institutions from Africa met and mixed in the New World. Many of the Jamaican obeah men whose names are known appear to be of Akan origin. Linguistically though, obeah seems to be closer to obia than to obayifo. Probably both akan and igbo 'fetishisms' met in Jamaica and mixed insensibly, and the resulting 'creolized' magical system retained a name of igbo origin, but was heavily 'Akanized' in other things.

Even the voodooism of Haiti which is believed to originate from the Fon people shows traces of mixing with Yoruba, Kikongo (Bantu) and Igbo practices.

In Cuba, the Abakua society originated from the Ibibio people, yet some of the incantations contain Igbo words and phrases.

Mixing.

Radoillo:


I think ideas and institutions from Africa met and mixed in the New World. Many of the Jamaican obeah men whose names are known appear to be of Akan origin. Linguistically though, obeah seems to be closer to obia than to obayifo. Probably both akan and igbo 'fetishisms' met in Jamaica and mixed insensibly, and the resulting 'creolized' magical system retained a name of igbo origin, but was heavily 'Akanized' in other things.

Even the voodooism of Haiti which is believed to originate from the Fon people shows traces of mixing with Yoruba and Igbo practices.

In Cuba, the Abakua society originated from the Ibibio people, yet some of the incantations contain Igbo words and phrases.

Mixing.

"Obeah" also can be seen as meaning "woman" or a short for "witch woman", and in fact some Akan groups such as the Akuapem and perhaps even the Akwamu do not say "obaa" but rather "obeah" when they refer to "woman".
[/b]

Not saying that there is NO IGBO influence there but there are just certain words in Jamaica that are obviously Akan and remain completely unchanged! I am happy to give examples!

Jayvarley:


"Obeah" also can be seen as meaning "woman" or a short for "witch woman", and in fact some Akan groups such as the Akuapem and perhaps even the Akwamu do not say "obaa" but rather "obeah" when they refer to "woman".
[/b]

Not saying that there is NO IGBO influence there but there are just certain words in Jamaica that are obviously Akan and remain completely unchanged! I am happy to give examples!

I get your point. But you do know that when linguists try to link the origin of a word to a language, they don't just consider the spelling but also contextual meaning, right? How does Obeah(Pronounced Obia) relate more to Obeah(Akan for Woman) rather than Obia(Igbo for Native doctoring)?

Don't you think that linguists have weighed all sides and options of Obia(Igbo) and Obeah(Akan:Woman) in entirety of both their spellings and meanings before finally pronouncing their final judgment?

The modern Jamaican Obeah practice is a mix of Congo, Akan and Igbo practices while the name itself has been said to have come from Igbo 'Obia'. Maybe you're mispronouncing the Igbo 'Obia' but it is pronounced exactly the same way Obeah is pronounced natively in Jamaica, the only difference being the spelling, of course.

Obeah's pronunciation doesn't sound like Obayifo, does it?

bigfrancis21:

I get your point. But you do know that when linguists try to link the origin of a word to a language, they don't just consider the spelling but also contextual meaning, right? How does Obeah(Pronounced Obia) relate more to Obeah(Akan for Woman) rather than Obia(Igbo for Native doctoring)?

Don't you think that linguists have weighed all sides and options of Obia(Igbo) and Obeah(Akan:Woman) in entirety of both their spellings and meanings before finally pronouncing their final judgment?

The modern Jamaican Obeah practice is a mix of Congo, Akan and Igbo practices while the name itself has been said to have come from Igbo 'Obia'. Maybe you're mispronouncing the Igbo 'Obia' but it is pronounced exactly the same way Obeah is pronounced natively in Jamaica, the only difference being the spelling, of course.

Obeah's pronunciation doesn't sound like Obayifo, right?

Of course but I find it a little funny that Igbo's are wanting to claim EVERYTHING!


JAMAICA IS NOT IGBOLAND!!!

I have accepted Igbo the contribution to Jamaica but I WILL NOT accept that everything came from the IGBO

That is Simply NOT TRUE

If you research history books on Jamaica and Obeah/Myalism you will definitely find there is a stronger Ashanti/Ghanaian Influence


Nanny of the Maroons, a Jamaican national Hero [/b]was often referred to as the [b]OLD OBEAH WOMAN.

She was known to use her spiritual powers against the oppressors

Nanny was born c. 1686 in Ghana, Western Africa, into the[b] Ashanti tribe[/b], and was brought to Jamaica as a slave.


Nanny and her brothers became folk heroes. Her most famous brother, Cudjoe, went on to lead several slave rebellions in Jamaica with the aid of her other brothers.

Leadership and Obeah

Many in her community attributed Nanny's leadership skills to her Obeah powers (Campbell). Obeah is an African derived religion that is still practiced in Suriname, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Belize and other Caribbean countries. It is associated with both good and bad magic, charms, luck, and with mysticism in general. In some Caribbean nations, aspects of Obeah have survived through synthesis with Christian symbolism and practice introduced by European colonials and slave owners.

It is also likely that Nanny's leadership skills resulted from her tribe of origin, Ashanti, known for its strong resistance to Europeans in West Africa and the New World. As well, she was heavily influenced by her brothers and other Maroons in Jamaica.

It is also known that Nanny possessed wide knowledge of herbs and other traditional healing methods, practiced by Africans and native islanders. This would have allowed her to serve as a physical and spiritual healer to her community, which in turn would elevate her status and esteem




The Maroons were the only people who remained free throughout the period of slavery



The Maroons mainly consisted of people from the Akan region of West Africa.

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanny_of_the_Maroons


When a tribe manages to remain free more of their culture will REMAIN INTACT!

LOL! Its not like that bro. At least that's not the way I see it. Personally, I find more words of Akan origin in Jamaican speech than words of Igbo origin. I was merely pointing out something about which scholars appear not to agree. The long-standing view is that the word is of Akan origin. More recently the Du Bois Slavery database suggested an Igbo origin. And even other scholars have pointed out the possibility of Efik and Ibibio sources.

No one doubts the bold visibility of Akan and other cultures in Jamaica. And yes, Jamaica is NOT IGBOLAND!